1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to guide fingers for pinsetters as used in bowling centers.
2. Background of the Invention
Bowling centers use pinsetters to automatically clear a bowling lane and reset the pins after the bowling ball has been rolled. Pinsetters are complex mechanical devices consisting of a large number of parts. A guide finger is part of a pinsetter and is used to guide the pin down a deck chute into the pin setting position.
Currently most guide fingers are made from aluminum. Occasionally pins jam the deck area of the pinsetter, and the rigidity of the aluminum fingers can cause damage to the deck.
Some guide fingers are made of polyurethane. This has proved to be unsatisfactory because the polyurethane is too flexible to properly spot the pins.
The guide finger typically has a countersunk mounting site. A flat head machine bolt and associated nut are used to mount the guide finger to the pinsetter. Due to the number of parts making up the pinsetter and the location of the guide finger it is difficult to hold a wrench on the head of the flat head bolt while tightening the nut. This results in guide fingers being burdensome to install.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the above problems.